DDR Labor Awards

[John F.]

I have a few questions about the Collective of Socialist Labor and Activist of Socialist Labor medals and was hoping someone could answer. Does anyone know what the award criteria was for these medals and how were they presented and by whom? I know that these are fairly low level labor awards based on their order of precedence but must have been a common medal and awarded frequently due to the abundance of these awards that are available on the market today. Also do these awards have a Soviet equivalent like the medal for Distinguished Labor, etc? Finally, since these were civilian awards could they be present to military personnel, or if awarded prior to a person going into the NVA could they be worn on the uniform? If so, does anyone a photographic evidence showing them being worn by military personnel?

Best,
John

[John F.]

The Collective of Socialist Labor Award - obverse and reverse.

[John F.]

The Activist of Socialist Labor Award -obverse and reverse

[Ralph P]

Hey John - The badge was awarded for the outstanding performance in the building and strengthening of Socialism. The documents I own have a Minister signing the document. And in my book checkout figure 101.

[Valter Gorenc]

I have two early documents for aktivist medal, with explanation why they were awarded;
one is for a working group leader in a ring binder factory; he improved the production, increased sales, organized work so the machines were better exploited etc. a whole page of explanation, with numbers... I'll try to scan and post a picture;
the other is for a nanny in children's home or maybe orphanage; she was good in eduicational process, improved health conditions and so on, and it's stated she has many years of experience in building up children to be good members of socialist society... Since the document is from early 50's, she probably had some of these "many years" of experience in building up children for members of national socialist society

[John F.]

Hi Valter,

Thanks for the reply. I figured that these awards were presented liberally and for a variety of reason which is evident in your comments on your documented awards.

I wonder if there was a formal type ceremony for the presentation of these awards, or if they were handed out on the factory floor by the shift leader?

[John F.]

Hey John - The badge was awarded for the outstanding performance in the building and strengthening of Socialism. The documents I own have a Minister signing the document. And in my book checkout figure 101.

Ralph,

Thanks, I will check out your reference once the boy is asleep. He has a tendency of grabing and tearing out pages of books .

[Ralph P]

I will wait to hear back from you...

[John F.]

in my book checkout figure 101.

Ralph,

Ref: Figure 101 on page 111

Intersting how the wearer converted the 2 Activist of Socialist Labor awards to be worn on a 5 sided suspension so that it could be worn on his medal bar. I have seen this done with other DDR awards such as the Verdienstmedaille but not with low level awards. I guess he wanted more bling to impress the ladies of the MfS.

[Ralph P]

Hey John - Here is another picture of an MfS officer and his medal rows...

[John F.]

Here is another picture of an MfS officer and his medal rows...

Wow what a mess! What did the East Germans have against the use of medal bars? I've seen train accidents that looked more organized then that clutter of metal.

I also see that he converted his Verdienstmedaille too.

John

[torstenbel]

Hi Valter,

Thanks for the reply. I figured that these awards were presented liberally and for a variety of reason which is evident in your comments on your documented awards.

I wonder if there was a formal type ceremony for the presentation of these awards, or if they were handed out on the factory floor by the shift leader?

in the 1950s, these awards will still kind of special and you got the nice little award booklets with it, which usually had a whole page with justifications for being given the award. by the 1980s, they were not that special anymore. the Kollektiv award was given to pretty much everyone, by the individual Aktivist award was still a little special (it came with a 500 Mark premium). usually, there would have been ceremonies at which they were handed out, but sometimes it was less formal. Cheers, Torsten.

[John F.]

in the 1950s, these awards will still kind of special and you got the nice little award booklets with it, which usually had a whole page with justifications for being given the award.

Hi Torsten,

Thanks! That was the information I was looking for. Do you by chance have an example of the award booklet you could share?

John

[Ralph P]

Hey Torsten and John - Thanks for the follow up posts. The picture was taken in 1975.

[torstenbel]

Hi Torsten,

Thanks! That was the information I was looking for. Do you by chance have an example of the award booklet you could share?

John

John, I have had quite a few 1950s Aktivist award books, but I have none at the moment and I never keep pics of items, once they are sold. The only item that I have got at the moment in that direction is a 1957 award booklet for the Medaille fuer ausgezeichnete Leistungen, which was also a labour award, but not an Aktivist award. Cheers, Torsten.